So many seem to look to our system of government to solve all our problems, but I am with Geoff Lawton who believes that “All the World’s problems can be solved in a garden.”

Every day fear seems to be escalating and many people seem to be falling into despair. I have to say that I am alarmed at what is happening myself, but I quell my fear quickly because I KNOW that we all have MUCH more power than we let ourselves believe we do. We also have much more control over just how this all may effect us on a personal level.

Yes, if ‘The Commons’ are privatized and those who seek only wealth have their say, we are probably doomed, we may already be and this will just escalate it; only though, I believe, because we are not personally willing to adopt lifestyles that could very likely put a halt to this awful scenario.

I have been tagging all my comments with #VoluntaryRadicalSimplicity because I think it is akin to boycotting businesses/corporations/TPTB – on steriods. Without the demand for the things that are commodified so that stocks can be sold to gamble, what real power would ‘they’ have over us? Seems to me that most of our troubles are the result of the fantasy that we can all be rich and can ALL have EVERYTHING.

What seems to be at the base of wanting the latest, greatest is personal insecurity with who one is within society at large. Alfie seemed to have been having the same dilemma. It was soon revealed that he was stifling his emotions and that at the core of his ‘womanizing’, he was insecure; difficult to fathom. How hard it must be to be that beautiful and not know why people like you.

Nature volunteering simplicity with elegance; Brassicas popping up all over.

Lately one of my lifelong childhood friends responded to a post I made saying, “I admire your tenacity to be true to your values and not get caught up in the usual mainstream dependence on the almighty dollar. I’ve lived a cushy life, but often feel out of place…like I sh/could live “closer to the earth.”” I responded by saying, “We find our ways slowly but surely.”

As a young girl, I was often alone because I was just simply overwhelmed with trying to manage all of the feelings that are part of interacting with another or others, probably because of a very dysfunctional family situation. To content myself, I would go out into the fields around our house, which were many in the 50’s and 60’s, and create ‘communities’ by dragging things over the ground to make ‘city’ plots. I spent hours doing it, all by myself, and loved it. What I do now is not much different and for very much the same reasons, only now I create plots to grow food.

I’m 62 now and it took me many years to get to this lifestyle of progressively increasing #VoluntaryRadicalSimplicity. The longest I stayed at any place of employment was 7 years. It finally became clear to me that I didn’t agree with most of what was going on. I finally found that nothing I was doing was in line with my core values; there was always some kind of compromise involved and it was leaving my soul bankrupt. I was actually getting physically sick. So, I set out to be my own employer. When that also became too much compromising, I adopted this lifestyle. It’s not for everyone, but it was perfect for me.

As Alfie narrates his own life in the movie, he shares with the camera that he suffers his rather limited personal accommodations because, “I rarely sleeps in my own bed.”

It reminded me that we all don’t have to have it all.

I don’t have enough resources on site, yet, to do all of the things I hope to do. My neighbor recently delivered the above pictured trimmings from a job he did. He has given me things (debris) from his own yard before and is now coming to me to ask whether or not I can utilize certain things. He has another job coming up which will yield a large amount of Oleander trimmings and he came inquiring whether or not it is allelopathic and could I use it? I quickly came in to investigate it and found that it IS toxic, but that the toxicity is virtually eliminated during aerobic composting. It is NOT allelopathic. He will deliver that too and was delighted that I would take it. Saves him a fee at the dump and he is in full support of a neighbor growing food; win win. We’re going to put it in the #AlleywayProject. It is toxic to small animals who might eat it. It is toxic to humans in that it irritates the skin to touch it. What a great stride for my goals to plant the alley. #CommunityIsThenewNewDeal.

Our best hope is in each other, don’t you think? I have no idea what political persuasion my neighbor is. It doesn’t interfere with us getting along. His ex-wife, that’s another story, (we got off to a rough start when I first moved here and put up the fence between our yards). We evolved.

The changes I’m seeing in the World are that we are finally talking about things in a meaningful way.

“Are we meant to take more than we give
Or are we meant to be kind…” ~ Burt Bacharach

Lyrics:

What’s it all about, Alfie
Is it just for the moment we live
What’s it all about when you sort it out, Alfie
Are we meant to take more than we give
Or are we meant to be kind
And if only fools are kind, Alfie
Then I guess it’s wise to be cruel
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie
What will you lend on an old golden rule
As sure as I believe there’s a heaven above, Alfie
I know there’s something much more
Something even non-believers can believe in
I believe in love, Alfie
Without true love we just exist, Alfie
Until you find the love you’ve missed you’re nothing, Alfie
When you walk let your heart lead the way
And you’ll find love any day, Alfie, Alfie

Success

"To live is to struggle. A successful life is not without ordeals, failures, tragedies, but one during which the person has made an adequate number of effective responses to the constant challenges of his physical and social environment." Rene Dubos - So Human An Animal pg.161 c1968